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(No Model.) I I E. E. DOW.

SHOE'NAIL. v

No. 374,524. v I v Patented Dec. 6, 1887.

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NITED ESTATES PATENT ()FFICEQ EDWARD E. DOW OF HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ON E- HALF TO DAVID- O. CLARK, OF SAME PLACE.

SHOE-NAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,524, dated December 6, 1887.

Application filed July 14, 1887. Serial No. 244,968. (No model.)

In accordance with my invention my im-' proved nail is cut from a strip of metal by suitable knives of a nail-cutting machine, (not herein shown,) the said nail being so cut as to leave a tapering body portion of oblong shape in cross-section, the larger end of the blank being upset to form the head, the upper face of which is of greater area than the said body portion, the material between the body of the nail at itsjunction with thehead, quite to the face of the head, being shaped to form four inclined sides, such as shown; or, in other words, the metal starting from the four edges of the head is of a continuous taper to the body portion. By thus inclining the sides of the head to the point where they meet and merge into the body portion a tapering nailis formed having a wedge-shaped or pyramidal head, whereby increased holding power is imparted to the said nail as compared with other nails known to me of the same weight when driven into the stock the oblong form of the body portion and the pyramidal under side of the head serving to keep the nail in the position in which it is driven and preventing itbecoming loosened by twisting, and a nail having such a head is easily driven flush with the stock.

Figure l is a side view of a shoe-nail constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2, an end view of the nail shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a top or plan view of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4, a section in the line as, looking up.

The body portion a, which is cut from a metal strip by knives in a suitable machine, is made tapering, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, from a point, as a, toward the point, the body ofthe nail being wider than it is thick. The head I) is upset, and thus made of greater area than a cross-section of the body portion at the point a, so that all thefour sides b of the said head are inclined,thus forming a head Wedge shape on all sides, or pyramidal, such ahead giving to the nail increased holding power when driven into thestock, and enabling the head to be readily driven into the stock flush, the under side of the head gradually and effectually displacing the stock.

It will be noticed that the corner formed between thejunction of the inclined under sides of the head with the edges or boundaries of the face of the head are acute-angled curves or edges, not thick edges, or such as to constitute edges'of any appreciable thickness, as would be the case if the tapering or beveled sides of the headforming portion terminated at any considerable distance from the face of the head, as in the so-called spring-nail.

I claim As an improved article of manufacture, a shoe-nail comprising a tapering body portion, a, and a quadrilateral head having its four sides wedge-shaped and of a continuous taper from the edges of the said head to the body portion a, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD E. DOW.

Witnesses:

JAS. H. CHURCHILL, B. DEWAR. 

